by Elena Aitken
While he waited for breakfast to show up, Max sprinted the short distance to the employee housing, grabbed a quick shower, put on his best shirt and ran back in time to meet room service at the door. He poured Tess a cup of coffee, put a plate of breakfast on a tray and as a last-minute touch, ran outside to grab a wild daisy, which he put on the tray.
“Good morning.” Max put the tray down and rubbed Tess’s shoulder. “Time to get up.”
Her eyes fluttered and when Max caught the first glimpse of their beautiful blue color, his heart flipped a little. It was crazy to him that he felt so strongly about her after such a short time, but he did and just as soon as they finished up with what they had to do, he was going to make damn sure that she knew that.
“What smells so good?” She sat up and made a futile effort to smooth her hair back. Max was secretly glad she didn’t succeed. Sure, he loved the way she usually looked, but there was something undeniably sexy about her first thing in the morning, with her hair all a mess and her clothes wrinkled.
Yes. Definitely sexy.
“I’d like to say I made it,” he said. “But I ordered it from the restaurant. I made the coffee, though.” He grinned and handed her the mug.
“My favorite part.” She inhaled deeply and Max had to get up and move away from her, the attraction was so strong. “How long was I sleeping? What time is it?”
“Don’t worry. It’s only six thirty and really, you didn’t sleep long. An hour, tops.”
“The slides. Are they—”
“Done.” He patted the laptop as he slid it into its case. “I put the finishing touches on it and everything is ready to go. All we need to do is get you showered and dressed, and…” He drifted off on that image. He shook his head and hoped she hadn’t noticed. “We’re all ready. But first you need to eat. I’ll go ahead and get the screen set up in the meeting room and you can meet me there.”
She nodded slowly and picked at the toast and egg. “Did you eat?”
“I was waiting for you.” He couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he went to retrieve his own plate from the kitchen and sat on the chair across from her to share another meal with this wonderful woman.
Tess couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so nervous. Of course, as a payroll clerk, she’d never had the opportunity to do something so major. But her nerves were only overshadowed by one thing—excitement.
She had a good idea and she knew it. Plus, they’d worked hard. She glanced across the boardroom table at Max, who was still connecting wires and testing the projector. He’d been amazing and despite the drama that had gone down between them, he hadn’t hesitated to come help her. They worked well together, even if she had to resist the urge on more than one occasion to kiss him, or reach over and touch his hand. She was angry with him. She needed to remember that.
But for the life of her, she couldn’t seem to remember why. Whatever reason she’d had the night before seemed so small now.
Really, really small.
“Are you ready?” Max was watching her with a smile. No doubt everything she was thinking showed on her face loud and clear.
She nodded. “I am. But there’s only one more thing.”
“What’s that? I thought we’d covered everything.”
All except one thing. Tess pulled her phone out of her bag. “I need to talk to Clara. She left like a dozen messages on my voicemail. She’s freaking out and I can’t blame her. After all, this is her company. She has a right to know what I’m doing. I just hope it’s the right thing.”
While she was talking, Max had circled the table and stood in front of her. He put a hand on her arm and squeezed. It was the first physical contact they’d had since their fight and her body responded immediately.
“It is the right thing, Tess. And I think Clara will see that, too.”
“I hope so.”
“She will. When she sees what you’ve put together here, she’ll be so impressed with you. I know she will.”
Tess wished she had half the optimism that Max seemed to have.
She nodded and turned to leave but Max pulled her back. “One more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I think it’s really important that we keep up the facade of you being Clara,” he said. “I don’t know Melissa all that well, but from what I do know and what you’ve told me, I think it’s a good idea. We don’t want her to be prejudiced on the idea before she even hears it.”
Tess nodded again. It made sense. They were in a tricky situation and all she needed to do was to present her idea and leave. After all, that’s all Clara’s company had been hired for. The fact that she’d imagined herself as part of the Hut and the process of bringing it all to fruition didn’t matter. Her job was done when the presentation was finished. No matter what the outcome. Plain and simple. She just needed to keep her mouth shut. “You’re right,” she said after a moment. “But I still need to let Clara in on it. I emailed her the presentation a few minutes ago. She should be calling any—”
On cue, Tess’s cell rang and Clara’s face lit up the screen. She excused herself and took the call.
“Tess?”
“Hey. I’m really sorry, Clara. I know I should have answered your calls and called you back and—”
“Forget that now. I want to talk about what you emailed me.”
Tess walked to the end of the hall where a window opened up to the courtyard. She held her breath and gazed out at the pines. “Look, Clara, I know it’s not what we talked about and it’s not at all what you had put together for the Lodge but there were some other factors and things that came to light—”
“I love it.”
“I know you probably don’t think it’s…wait. What? You love it as in…you love the idea?”
“I do. I can honestly say that I never thought of the things you did and your presentation…well, it’s top-notch, Tess. I’m really impressed.”
“You are?”
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
She couldn’t help it. Clara ran a successful company doing just what Tess had thrown together overnight. The fact that she loved it was not just surprising—it was awesome. “I’m really glad, Clara,” Tess said. “You have to know that I would never do anything to put your business at risk and you know I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and—”
“Yeah, yeah.” Her friend cut her off. “I know. It’s all good. Now simmer down and no tears.” Tess wiped at her eyes, which to her surprise had started to get watery. “You have an important presentation to do and I want to be there for all of it. Keep me on the line, okay?”
Tess didn’t have time to object because at that moment she saw Melissa come down the hall. She put her phone on mute and hustled into the boardroom before the other woman got there.
After everyone was settled, and Tess had strategically positioned her phone, she stood and with shaking hands, took the little remote that would control the slideshow from Max.
“I’m very interested to see what you have for me today, Ms. Clark.” Melissa looked even more impossibly put together than she had the day before. It was unfair how one woman could look so damn polished all the time with virtually no effort. It was also incredibly intimidating. A fact that Tess didn’t focus on.
“I hope you’ll be very impressed, Melissa.” She turned her back to scoop up the papers with her information on it.
“I’m sure I will, Ms. Clark.”
This time when Melissa said her name, she emphasized it in a way that made Tess’s blood run cold. She knew. Tess glanced to the phone where she was sure Clara was listening and coming to the same conclusion she just had. Melissa Kramer didn’t strike her as a stupid woman and she also didn’t come off as the type of woman to do or say things without a good reason for doing them. Tess glanced at Max, who was sending her warning signals. He wanted her to stay quiet. She took a deep breath, turned and made a decision.
“Before we begin, Melissa.” Tess spoke and in that insta
nt, Max knew he was not going to like the rest of the sentence. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
Oh no. No. No. He’d told her to keep quiet about the deception. It was one thing for her to come clean to him. But it would be an entirely different thing for her to own up to it to Melissa. She was definitely not going to be as understanding. Not. Even. Close.
“And what would that be?” Melissa leaned back in her chair and slowly crossed her long legs. She was an attractive woman, Max would have to be blind not to notice, but compared to Tess, Melissa’s overly polished beauty didn’t stand a chance. Not that he was there to compare the women. He most certainly was not. What he really needed to be doing was stopping the train wreck that was about to happen.
“I don’t think we need to talk about that right now.” He slapped the table in an effort to appear lighthearted. “In fact, let’s get on with the presentation.”
“No.” Melissa held up her finger. “I’d like to hear what she has to say. Go ahead, Ms. Clark.”
Tess took a quick breath and before he could try again, she was speaking.
“I know how important integrity in business is to you,” Tess said and Max almost groaned out loud. “And that’s why I need to tell you that my name is not Clara Clark; it’s Tess Rogers. I’m a business partner and friend of Ms. Clark’s and I was brought in at the very last minute to consult on this job. It was never our intention to deceive you or Mr. Grant.” Max nodded for lack of anything better to do during Tess’s confession. “Please know that I sincerely apologize for any misrepresentations or wrongdoing and I really do hope that it doesn’t influence your opinion of the recommendation I’m about to give you.”
Max held his breath, but beneath the surface, pride for the woman he was starting to fall in love with swelled. What she had just done had been unbelievably brave. He still didn’t know the reason she’d pretended to be her friend, but he knew whatever it was, there was a good reason and by coming clean just now, she put everything at risk.
“Did you know about this, Max?”
He nodded. “My suspicions were confirmed last night. But I need to—”
“I think we’re done here.” Melissa sat up with a snap and stood, dismissing them both.
“But you haven’t heard my recommendation,” Tess pleaded. “I’ve prepared—”
“I have no desire to hear whatever it is you have to say.” Melissa smoothed her skirt. “From what I can tell, you aren’t qualified in any way and you lied to me.”
Tess’s face fell and her shoulders slumped ever so slightly.
There was no way. They’d worked so hard on the idea. Tess had worked so hard. There was no way he was going to sit back and let Melissa dismiss her just for being honest.
“No!”
Both women turned and looked at him.
“Pardon me, Max?”
“No,” he said again. “You need to hear the presentation, Melissa.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“You will regret it if you don’t.”
That caught her attention. She stopped. “And what makes you think that?”
“Because I’ve seen what Ms. Rogers has prepared and I think you’ll be very impressed. The opportunity here for Castle Mountain Lodge is huge and I know you wouldn’t want to miss out on that because of a misunderstanding.”
“I hardly think it was a misunderstanding, Max.”
“Well, maybe it was or maybe it wasn’t,” he said smoothly. “What’s important now is you know who Tess is and that you listen to her very good ideas. I think if you don’t, you’ll be kicking yourself later.”
Melissa looked down at the tabletop for a moment before she tapped her nails on the surface and looked up. “Five minutes,” she said.
“That’s all I’ll need,” Tess chimed in. And without missing a beat, she transitioned easily into the first slide.
11
She could hardly believe it was over. What was more, Tess couldn’t believe that Melissa had actually been impressed with what she’d said. She’d thought it was all dead in the water before she even began, but Max had really stepped up. If it hadn’t been for him, there was no way Melissa would have sat and listened to what she had to say. More than that, she never would have actually liked what she had to say.
In fact, she more than liked it. She agreed with Tess and Max that not only was it a good idea, that it could possibly be the first thing of its kind in the area, making Castle Mountain Lodge even more of a destination. They could potentially capture a whole different market. Even a market that didn’t know they wanted to experience the kind of adventure Castle Mountain could offer. The opportunity was there. And Melissa saw it.
After some handshakes, and even a verbal agreement with Clara on the phone that there would be no more misrepresentation between any of them, Melissa left to make some phone calls.
Her work was done.
“You did great,” Clara said to her through the phone. “I am so proud of you, Tess.”
She blushed a little, even though her friend couldn’t see her. “It was nothing.”
“It was everything,” Clara insisted. “You not only saw an opportunity I totally overlooked, you put together a first-class presentation that some business executives couldn’t even dream of doing. And you did it overnight.”
“I didn’t do it on my own.” Tess looked over to where Max was disconnecting the projector and putting it back in the case. “I had a little help. No,” she quickly corrected herself. “I had a lot of help.”
“That was Max? The same Max you told me you were falling in love with?”
It wasn’t a question that needed an answer, but she answered it anyway. “Yes.”
“Do you still think you’re falling in love?”
“It doesn’t matter.” But it did. It really did. But she couldn’t tell Clara that. Especially not with Max right there in the room.
“That’s bullshit and you know it.” Tess could picture her friend pointing a finger in her face, getting ready for a lecture. “It does matter and you know how I know? Because you were willing to risk everything to tell him the truth. Everything. And I don’t mean just you and the money you were getting from the deal. But you were willing to risk us.” Clara’s voice got low. “And you would never do that if it wasn’t really important. And by really important, I mean…”
“I know what you mean, Clara. And you have to know I’d never do anything that I thought might hurt you. You know that, right?”
“Of course I know that!” Whatever emotion her friend had been feeling was gone, replaced by her characteristic optimism. “And I was a shit for putting you in that position. But I’m glad I did, because not only did it work out well for both of us, it really worked out well for you. I mean…Max.”
Tess laughed at her friend. “I guess.”
“No guessing. Get off the phone with me, and go fix whatever it is that needs fixing between you two, because something tells me it’s not all that bad. Then you can go and celebrate. And by celebrate, I mean—”
Tess hung up on her before she could get a graphic description on what celebrating really meant. She was pretty sure she could figure that out on her own.
“Is she happy?” Max used his head to gesture toward the cell phone Tess slipped back into her purse.
“She is,” Tess said. “I think she was also pretty shocked that I could pull off something like that.”
“I’m not.”
Tess stopped and stared at him. “You’re not?”
“No way.” Max snapped the case shut and walked around the table until he stood in front of her. “I could see it in you right away. It takes a special kind of confidence to pull off something like that. Not everyone has that. But you do. I saw it the day you zip-lined. You’re a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
“I don’t know about—”
“You are.” He put his hand on her cheek, and the sensations from his touch
shot through her body until she wasn’t entirely sure her feet would hold her up for much longer. “Tess, I need to apologize for everything. I never should have played any kind of game with you.”
“No.” She shook her head slightly and looked him straight in the eyes. “You have nothing to apologize for. It’s me. I was the one who lied to you. And even though you had no reason to help me after everything I did, you were right there for me.”
“I would do it again. And I did have every reason for helping you.”
“What’s that?”
His other hand rested on the opposite cheek so he was holding her firmly in place while his thumbs stroked gentle circles on her skin. “Because I think I’m falling in love with you, the woman I’ve come to know, the woman I’m just discovering, and the woman I’ve yet to learn about.” And then he kissed her. It was the kiss she’d been waiting for from the first time they’d met because there were no secrets or lies between them. Just honesty and openness.
“Max?”
He pulled away so their noses were touching.
“I think I’m falling in love with you, too, and what I want more than anything is to get to know you better and for you to get to know everything about me.”
“I’d like that more than anything else. Except maybe this.” He kissed her again and as Tess sank into the kiss, everything became crystal-clear.
Sometimes it wasn’t about planning or preparation. Sometimes, the very greatest gifts in life and love were—accidental.
12
September
Things had moved much faster than Max could have expected. As it turned out, Melissa liked the idea a whole lot more than she let on in the initial meeting, and not only did she call a handful of supplementary meetings, she went straight to the owners of the Lodge and made her recommendation, which to everyone’s surprise, included having Tess head up further research plans and consult on the Hut. Despite Melissa’s initial displeasure with Tess, ultimately she respected her for coming clean and for producing such a comprehensive report.